Field kitchen



(ModeL) 7 Sheets-Sheet 1.

K. HAHN.

FIELD KITCHEN.

No. 443,206. Patented Dec. 23, 1890.

7 Sheets-Sheet 2. K HAHN FIELD KITGHEN.

(Model.)

No. 443,206. Patented Dec. 23, 1890.

' 7 eeeeeeeeeeee 3.

K. HAHN.

FIELD KITCHEN.

Patented Dec. 23; 1890.

(ModeL) 7 Sheets-:Sheet 4.

K. HAHN.

FIELD KITCHEN.

No.'443, Z06-. Patented Dec. 23, 1890.

Winemw In M n 7 2',

(Mode1.) K HAHN fisheets-sheeH.

FIELD KITCHEN.

No. 443,206. Patented Dec. 23,1890.

NITED STATE-s PATENT OFFICE.

KURD I-IAI-IN, OF HILDBURGHAUSEN, GERMANY.

FIELD-KITCHEN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 443,206, dated December 23, 1890.

Application filed August 10, 1839- Serial No. 320,342. (ModeL) To a5? whom, it may concern.-

I-le 1t known that I, KURD HAHN, a subject of the King of Prussia, residing at Hildburghausen, in the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, German Empire, have invented new and useful Improvements, in Field-Kitchens, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention forms a compendious cooking apparatus for field or camp, the essential parts of which for use also form the essential parts for packing the entire apparatus into a small compass for transportation.

The apparatus, as hereinafter described, is intended to serve for cooking the food for one hundred and twenty-five men, and this apparatus in its portable form will not exceed forty-three centimeters in width, forty-three centimeters in length, and thirty-six centimeters in height, (seventeen inches by seventeen inches by fourteen andone-half inches,)

with an entire weight of sixty-two kilograms,

(about one hundred and thirty-six pounds avoirdupois.)

The apparatus for the cooking and for the transport or packing purposes, which constitutes the invention, will be accompanied by all the parts or utensils used for cooking, which parts or utensils will be stored for transport purposes within the cubic body formed by the main parts. It is, however, to be understood that neither those utensils nor the mode of storing them away forms part of the invention, as the said utensils may vary in size, construction, and number, as well as in the method of packing or storing them.

The utensils are only mentioned in detail in order to show that the cooking apparatus is complete and in due order for working and for transport purposes.

I will now proceed first to describe the invention in detail, and afterward point out its novelty in a claim.

Figure I is a perspective View illustrating the setting of the apparatus. Fig. II is a perspective view showing the main parts of the apparatus ready for use. Fig. II shows a modification ot the smoke fine or chimney. Fig. III shows a longitudinal and nearly central vertical section corresponding with Figs. I and II. Fig. IV is a sectional plan corresponding with Fig. III. Fig. V represents a plan of the hearth or cooking plates spread out. Figs. VI and VII represent in perspective portions of the hearth or cooking-plates partly folded for packing. Figs. VIII and IX represent in perspective all the hearth or cooking-plates, together with a skeleton frame, under conditions to be hereinafter explained. Fig. X is a perspective view, on a larger scale, corresponding with Figs. VIII and IX, but showing additional details. Fig. XI is a vertical sectional view of the entire apparatus packed for transportation. Fig. XII is a horizon tal sectional View corresponding with Fig. XI. Figs. XIII, XIII, XIII", XIV, XV, XVI, and XVII are detail views, which will be hereinafter explained.

Referring first to Figs. IV to VI, 1 indicates a pit dug in the soil, the material dug out to form this pit being used to form the walls 2, whereas 3 are the blocks of soil which are left and which are cut out to form the fire flue or channel, which is covered in its front part, which is of greater width, by two hearths or cooking-plates 4t and 5, whereas the hind part, of less width, is intended to receive a skeleton frame 6 17 1S and to be covered by a plate 7 and by the base of the chimney 8. A block of the earth or soil is also shown as left to be covered by boards 10 to constitute a table for preparing the food and for distributing it.

I will now explain the setting and hearth or cooking-plates -:t and 5 and skeleton frame 6 17 18. The hearth or cooking plates& and 5 are, as shown in Figs. V to VII, two plates of equal width and of equal length, such plates having three circular holes and two "hinges 11 and 12, so that each plate may be brought into the form, Figs. VI andVII. For

keeping the two flat plates 4 and 5 together when forming the hearth each plate is pro- .vided at or near the inner rim or edge with corresponding holes for the clamps 13 to be inserted into. Through the holes of these clamps the wedges 14; are placed. In this manner the plates are combined to tormonehearthplate. For the better bearing of this hearthplate on light or loose soil, &c.,the outer edges or rims of the plates are provided with tongues 70, Figs. XIII and XIII which for packing purposes are turned back into the plates, but

which for mounting purposes are turned out' to increase the bearing-surface of the two plates i and 5 of which the hearth is formed.

ICO

The dotted lines on the plates, Fig. indicate strengthenlug-ribs 15 on their lower su rfaces to strengthen the bearing capacity of the hearth and its resistance against being warped by heat. At the ends of the plate 4 eyes 16 and at the ends of the plate 5 eyes (50 are provided for packing purposes. Into the eyes 16 and (30, at the front part of the plates 4 and 5,the tire-door 57 is to behinged, the said door being for the purpose provided with one fixed pivot and with one movable pivot, as shown in Figs. II and Y.

The skeleton frame 6 17 18 is illustrated in Figs. VIII and IX, and on an enlarged scale in Fig. X. This skeleton frame consists of an upper frame 17 and a lower frame 18, both connected at the four corners by angleirons 19. The upper frame 17 is narrower in the clear than the lower frame 18, the upper frame 17 being provided in its lower rim with vertical recesses 20 for receiving the eyes 16 of the cooking or hearth plates, whereas the interior of the lower frame 18 is provided with four horizontal recesses 21, by which if the skeleton frame for packing purposes is lowered down over the hearth-plates, when the latter is in cube shape, it will clear the eyes 16, and afterward surround the eyes 60. The upper frame 17 of the skeleton frame may be provided with a plate 7, hinged to it to form a cover to the skeleton frame when packed up, as indicated in Fig. VIII. For working (cooking) purposes, however, this plate 7 is thrown back into the position shown in Fig. IX. Besides this plate 7, two other halfplates 7171, Figs. XIII, XIII, and XIV, maybe hinged to the upper frame 17 of the skeleton frame 6 17 18, which plates 71 71, in mounting the apparatus, may be turned back in order to cover the fire flue or channel in that part where the change of width occurs, which offers the advantage that. in loose or light soil this change of width in the flue need not be made with or at right angles, but may be made tapering. The two plates TI 71 are for packing turned over the skeleton frame 6 17 1S, and are kept down by the hinged plate 7, which comes down at right angles to the two other plates.

Suppose now the hearth-plates have been in working (cooking) order, as shown in Fig. V, and are freed from the clamps and wedges 13 and II, and brought, as permitted by their hinges 11 and 12, into the position shown in Figs. VI and VII relatively to each other.

These two plates I and 5, if broughttogether,

will form the six sides of a cube or cube shape, the inner space of which will be or form the receptacle of all the utensils of the ea in p cook in g apparatus, as hereinafter explained, with the exception of the skeleton frame, the board 10, the plate 7, the tire-door 57, the two plates '71 7], the two cover-plates 58 59,the grate 72, and the cross 62, which mentioned parts, as will also be hereinafter explained, are kept by the skeleton frame. If the two plates 4 and 5 are brought together while in the positions represented in Figs. \'l and VII to form a cube, and if over this cube the skeleton frame is lowered down in such manner that the sides of the skeleton frame which are provided with the handles 22 slide over those sides of the cube from the upper parts of which the eyes 10 protrude, the said eyes, after they have been passed by the recesses 21. of the skeleton frame, enter into the re cesses of the upper part 17 of the skeleton frame, which is here provided with eyes 2 3 in such a position that the boltfll, chained to the skeleton frame, may be passed through the said eyes and the cooking-plate eyes I In this manner the skeleton frame is combined with the cooking-plates 4 and 5 to form one body herewith, so that if new the skeleton frame is seized by its handles 92 the cooking-plates l and 5 and all the utensils which they include in their cubic space may be lifted for transportation.

It is obvious that all four sides of the frame 18 maybe provided with recesses 21 and bolts 6i, and all four sides of the frame 17 may be provided with recesses 20, eyes 23, bolts 24, and in this case it is immaterial over which sides of the cube the handles 22 of the skeleton frame are brought.

It is evident that the cooking-plate t or 5, the middle part of which forms the bottom of the cube, must by means of its eyes 16 provide for or establish the above-explained connection with the skeleton frame, so that this bottom of the cube forms the bearing-surface for the entire contents of the cube.

Four of the wooden plates 10 may be provided with metal tongues 25 at bottom and it; at top. The lower tongues 25 are inserted behind the frame 18 of the skeleton (5, while the upper tongues 26 are brought adjacentto the eye 16 and are kept there by the bolt 24, as clearly to be seen by Fig. X.

The camp cooking apparatus may be completed by the addition of a grate 72, Figs. XIII, XIII, and XV, which may serve two purposes. In case that the soil in and over which the cooking apparatus is to be mounted is moist or frozen, or if no proper fuel is to be had, it may sometimes prove difficult to kindle a fire and to maintain the fire on the soil. To meetthis diffieulty the grate 72 is provided, having four legs '73 to stand on, and such grate is placed into the tire fluev or channel and the fire 1's kindled on the grate, Fig. XIII. Any dampness or moisture of the soil willnot then inconvenience the li re. If the grate 72 is not used for this purpose, it may be used as a gridiron, as shown in Fig. XIII, in which case it is placed legs uppermost with its rabbcted angle-iron into the upper frame 17 of the skeleton 6, and the li re burning underneath the gridiron meat or any other food maybe roasted or broiled on it. For packing and transportation of the grate or gridiron 72, it is placed legs uppermost, as shown in Fig. XV, and the skeleton 6 is lowered down over it, with its recesses 21 em- IIO bracing the grate-legs. The holes in *these legs and in the recesses are traversed by pins or bolts 61, thereby locking the grate to the cubic body as the last act of packing. I

In the manner hereinabove described the principal parts for the cooking serve as the principal parts for packing, by which a cubic body is formed protected on four sides by wooden plates, and the complete packed-up apparatus may be easily lifted by two men on any car or vehicle.

For completing the description of the apparatus reference is had to the vertical section, Fig. XI, and horizontal section, Fig. XII, and also to the representations in Figs. I and XIII of the complete working position of all the parts of the apparatus.

In the vertical section, Fig. XI, the skeleton 6 and one cooking or hearth plate 4, with its hinges 11, are represented united by eyes 1'5 and bolts 24, and the wooden plates 10 are shown closing up the side openings of the skeleton 6. On the middle (bottom) part of plate 4 rests a'square meat-box 27, receiving a square vessel 28, which has a rim 29 at its outer middle part to rest upon the said box 27. WVithin this vessel 28 the parts 30 31 3:2 are placed, telescopically inserted into each other, which parts if drawn out will form the chimney 8. Now, the cooking-vessels 33 34 35 36 follow, decreasing in size, so as to fit into each other. The middle part is occupied by the two vessels 37 and 38, of which the one receives the boxes or canisters 39 to for salt, tea, spices, &c., while the other receives three coffee-mills 47, the two scoops or ladles 48, with removable handle, the detachable coffee-roaster 49, a funnel 50, two scrapingbells'51, and other parts. The four corners formed by the layers round chimney-section 30 within the largest square vessel 25 are intended to receive all the utensils for preparin g meat-such as knives, forks, steel, a steelyard, due-which utensils for quick removal and better storage are wrapped up in coarse woven material. 011 the upper vessel 30 there rest the two stew-pans 52 53 with folded handles. In these pans are stored six testingspoons 54, and on the stew-pans rest the covers 55 for the cooking-vessel. Now follows a meat-box 56, similar to the meat-box 27, the box 56 being turned upside down, so as to form the cover, resting on the rim 29 of the large vessel 28. The top is formed by the middle part of the cooking or hearth plate 5, carrying the cross 62, upon which rests the fire-door 57, the two cover-plates 58 59, and the plate 7, if this latter is loose; but the said plate 7 may be hinged to the skeleton 6 according to Figs. VIII and 1X;

The entire contents as specified are surrounded and carried by the transporting device formed by the skeleton 6 and the two cooking or hearth plates 4 and 5. This latter plate 5, the two end parts of which for packing are directed downwardly, may, if desired, also be furnished with eyes 60, like the eyes 16. The plate 4 and these eyes may enter the recesses 21 of the lower part or frame 18 of the skeleton 6 and be secured there by bolts 61, as indicated by Fig. X. The coffee-roasting drum 49 will, if the apparatus is mounted for use, be inserted into the lower partof the chimney 8, and the cross 62 maybe placed on the top of the uppermost part of said chimney, which part is provided with suitable recesses to receive the said cross, and from this cross meat or sausages may be suspended by hooks for smoking purposes. For improving the smoking process one of the meat-boxes 27 or 56 may be made to partiallycover the chimney, (see Fig. 1 1 so as to form a cheek to cause the smoke to issue in downward direction.

In order to provide for a good draft in the chimney, the cross 62 in its center maybe arranged to receive a pivot 74, Fig. XVI, of certain length, which takes into the socketof a cover 76. This cover is provided with a lower rim, which rim is cut out in part for the smoke to issue. The cover has on its top a slide 78 to receive a piece of sheet metal 79, serving as a vane, so as to direct the side opening of the cover for the convenient issue of the smoke with the wind. (See Fig. XVII.)

It may be well to mention that in the apparatus described of the dimensions stated in the beginning of this specification the contents of the vessel named for boiling and cooking purposes will be equal to one hundred and ninety liters, or about forty-two gallons.

The earth-works may of course vary from those illustrated in the figures according to circumstances. The main feature of the fire flue or channel will, however, always be almost the same, as it mustcorrespond in its feature to the form and sizes of the cooking or hearth plates 4 and 5 of the skeleton 6 and the plate 7 and chimney-foot 8. In some cases the earth-work may be replaced by brickwork. The walls of bricks loosely put together may be covered outside by earth, so as to make the fire flue or channel as nearly airtight as possible.

The packing up of the apparatus from its working condition, as developed in Fig. ll, into the form as illustrated in Figs. X, XI, and XII, is readily understood from these figures and from the explanation of parts in their consecutive order, as given above. This packing up may, with some exercise of the men, be accomplished in very little time indeed, as also the mounting of the apparatus will be accomplished in a very short period, as it only involves the cutting out of the fiue or fire-channel into the soil, the mounting of plates 4 and 5, with skeleton 6 and chimney 8, which may, circumstances permitting, be accomplished, so that everything will be ready for kindling the fire in less than a quarter of an hour.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A camp cooking apparatus consisting in Yided with eyes and bolts to fasten them tothe combination of the hinged plates l and 5, getherin cubical form, substantially as herein forming a hearth, the skeleton frame 6 17 1 set forth. the hinged plate 7, and the chimney S, of In testimony whereof I have signed my 5 which parts the two plates 4: and 5, when name to this specification in the presence 01": t5

folded together, form a cubic space to receive two subscribing witnesses.

the cooking utensils, and the skeleton frame KURT) HAHN. 6 17 18 is capable of being placed over the Witnesses: cube formed by the said plates 4- and 5, the ALWIN FLORsoHUTZ,

IO said skeleton frame and plates being pro- S. A. SMITH. 

